Improvement in boot and shoe tips



F. w. RHINELANDER.

Boot and Shoe Tips.

- No. 145,590, Patented Dec.16,1873.

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ITNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FREDERIG W. RHINELANDER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOT AND SHOE TIPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,590, dated December 16, 1873; application filed November 26, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIC W. RHINE LANDER, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe and Boot Tips; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Shoe-tips heretofore manufactured and worn, applied to boots and shoes, have been made almost exclusively of metal. Notwithstanding their eminent usefulness and economy, they have, owing to their metallic and striking appearance, been but little worn in cities where a more fastidious taste prevails, or where the metallic tip is apt to be considered as the badge of poverty. With a view to overcoming this prejudice numerous means have heretofore been devised and attempted to be applied for making ready-made tips of a material or materials resembling in color and gloss the leather of which the shoes to which they were to be applied were made, or simulating patent-leather, of which leather caps are usually made. .To

this efi'ect tips have been made of soft vulcanized rubber varnished or japanned black, or of hard rubber. The former were too elastic, and slipped off and exposed the toe to wear, while the latter were too brittle to afiord any protection. It has also been attempted to veneer metal tips with hard rubber, or to paint or japan them; but all attempts and experiments in this direction have proved utter failures, because the slightest shock would often suffice to detach the coat or film of paint, japan, or rubber veneer, and expose the metal in spots, which produces even a more unsightly effect than if the whole tip had a plain metal surface.

The object of my invention, therefore, is the production, as an article of manufacture, of a metal tip with a coat of black or other color attached to it with sufficient permanence and adhesiveness to answer all practical purposes.

In carrying out my invention, I prefer to use tips made of common sheet-iron, being stronger, stifi'er, and cheaper than the more finished or ornamental copper tips. I dip them in sulphuric acid, and wash them well afterward with water. I then apply, by means of a brush, to the portion which is visible when applied to the boot or shoe, a coat of paint, or paste-like substance, consisting of sand, soda, potash, lead, and a small quantity of borax-- ingredients which are thoroughly fused, and

After cooling the article is ready for use or for the market.

Tips being applied mostly to childrens shoes,

it is not unimportant to give the tips a color to correspond with the color of the leather used for such shoes. Thus, a white, blue, red, or other colored enamel can be applied to the tips. For a white covering or enamel, I add to the ingredients above named alumina; for blue I add to the white, oxide of cobalt; for jet-black I prefer to add to the blue, oxide of iron. Of course, the proportions of the ingredients may, and should be, varied, according to the toughness and adhesiveness desired to be produced, and also according to the purity of the ingredients, as well known to those acquainted with the art of enameling; For my purposes I have found the following proportions will give good results: Four (4) parts, in weight, sand; two (2) parts, in weight, oxide of lead; one (1) part, in weight, carbonate soda; one (1) part, in weight, borax.

Tips of the character herein described, besides the great advantages of appearance, have the additional advantage that the edge when coated with enamel is no longer sharp, and will not cut the leather-a fault in the ordinary tips which is often complained of.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The enameled-metal shoe-tip, as a new article of manufacture.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed myname this 22d day of November, A. D. 187 3. p

F. W. RHINELANDEB.

Witnesses:

F. G. SALTONSTALL, L. D. HAIGHI. 

